Reply to: What discount/rate would you offer for working from home?

[TykeMerc]

560 mile round trip to work! Where do you live? Afghanistan?

West Yorkshire so pretty close

[BrilloPad]

I would have to be paid ALOT more to work at home.

All those screaming kids put me right off......

[Shimano105]

In the past some of my best rates were working from home.

Now lets looks at it. You can pay £350 to someone in Britain. You can pay £150 to someone in Mumbai. Which would give you the easiest ride?

I know on paper the Indian option makes sense, but would you really feel comfortable dealing with someone so far away and with language and trust issues?

Personally I would be comforted by the fact that I could arrange a meeting tomorrow with my coder, speak to him/her in native tongue and deal under British law. Not to mention the time zone difference as well.

And yes, it is a good deal for the client for you to work from home as well.

[nomadd]

err... arent'you doing that now, come on admit it!

Nah, he's off kissing his Steve Jobs poster.

Nomadd

[cs#]

and I don't want to socialise with other nerds.

err... arent'you doing that now, come on admit it!

[cs#]

I'd try and present it the other way round, in the shoes of a contractor who didn't want to commute... working from my premises is the norm and I charge an excess to work on client site.

That's me, working from home that'd be panacea, where are all these jobs I'm waiting for them, in my opinion it makes a lot of sense, why travelling for hours in packed trains or jammed motorways! why the need for office space in overly crowded cities, why don't we make good use of the technologies around us and give a break to the system I really don't understand.

[d000hg]

And for a moment there, I thought you were accusing him of trolling...

Nomadd

No, it's true. I either want to be at work, or doing something I choose to do. Not being distracted hearing people discuss England's football prowess (managers), Strictly come dancing (accounts/HR/secretaries), or why they have a poster of Steve Jobs on their wall (developers).

[nomadd]

I was recently asked to take a 5% rate cut at my renewal, I said that it would be acceptable if I could work from home for much of the time, but not if I had to keep coming to site. Since the site is some 560 mile round trip it would save me the better part of 10 hours every time I want to go home.
My rate is unchanged

560 mile round trip to work! Where do you live? Afghanistan?

Nomadd

[TykeMerc]

I was recently asked to take a 5% rate cut at my renewal, I said that it would be acceptable if I could work from home for much of the time, but not if I had to keep coming to site. Since the site is some 560 mile round trip it would save me the better part of 10 hours every time I want to go home.
My rate is unchanged

[nomadd]

Poor trolling, no? I enjoy the work I do but I don't like commuting, I don't like sitting in a cube, and I don't want to socialise with other nerds.

And for a moment there, I thought you were accusing him of trolling...

Nomadd

[SorenLorensen]

The whole idea of working is to actually get out of the house.
The whole idea of working is to meet and socialise.

Oh no it fecking isn't.

[d000hg]

The whole idea of working is to actually get out of the house.
The whole idea of working is to meet and socialise.

Poor trolling, no? I enjoy the work I do but I don't like commuting, I don't like sitting in a cube, and I don't want to socialise with other nerds.

[d000hg]

If it can be done from your home office, it can be done from Mumbai...

The problem is not location, if I could find an excellent person in India I'd use them. The problem is that for whatever reasons, finding decent developers who aren't just programmers is harder in cheaper countries. Culture plays a part - some shared knowledge/experience is missing - as do language barriers. And I think education tends to focus on programming rather than software engineering.

[Flopsy]

Maybe you are asking the wrong question.

If you advertise for people wanting to work from home you will attract applications from disabled people and others stuck at home. Also from remote areas where there isn't much work.

You may be able to get a lower rate from these workers as they may not have any many options as the able-bodied (for example) competitors.

[malvolio]

I try not to make a difference between home working and office based, and if I do it will be limited to the gross cost of travel. Then again, I work the rate from the other direction: I have a minimum amount I will charge for something I can do from my own office at home. I add the gross cost of travel and accomodation to get to the client's site (which you can do on a per day basis and average back; most clients will want to see you occasionally!). I then add a bonus for me depending on seniority of the role and the risk/trouble/irritation factor, which is a bit subjective.

Luckily I usually end up with something quite close to what the client is willing to pay...